Binding Circles

Binding Circles

Part 14

Shamise

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Red eyes. Transfixed, Ritocehstared at the person across from him. Alien eyes locked onto him with the accuracy of a heat-seeking torpedo (what the hell was that anyway?). Something weird began to stir in his chest, and his arm began to tingle. What was with this man? Aside from the red eyes, there wasn't anything else that would set of Yuugi's 'creep-dar,' and he…didn't feel dangerous. Something twitched within his muscles in response to the feeling, and his fingers itched to scratch at his wounded arm.

The man began to move, coming closer to the hedge that separated the houses and the palace. He whispered something, Ritoceh realized, but his ears couldn't pick up what was said. Whatever he was whispering made Ritoceh squirm uncomfortably. The stranger's entire being acted as if he was a ghost.

A tanned hand reached out for Ritoceh, and whatever had held Ritoceh immobile fell away. He conceded to the clamoring in his head, and turned tail to speed away. Or, he would have, if his muscles didn't decide to spasm at that very moment. His head start lost, the stranger wasted no time catching up. Vice-like hands closed around his wrist, and he was yanked back into the stranger's arms.

"No!" Ritoceh flailed in the stranger's hold. The arms that held him were much stronger than he had expected. No matter how much he twisted and struggled, the arms didn't budge an inch. The man was whispering words he couldn't recognize, and held him tightly.

Ritoceh froze when something slick touched his tail. Frightened, he looked downward at his tail as the stranger holding him also froze. Black appendages that he has never seen before encircled his tail, just a few inches from touching the blackberry scales. He snapped his eyes back up to his captor when the other gasped.

His captor looked mortified. Ritoceh shed away from the cautious touches to his tail. His captor was whispering again, and a chill ran up his spine. A tanned hand grasped for his bandaged arm, and he yelped in pain.

"L-let go!" he demanded as the stranger scratched at the wrappings. Those fingers hesitated at Ritoceh's scream of pain, yet they continued pulling the bandages off nonetheless. Yuugi squirmed, twisting in the stranger's grasp, trying to make sense of the appendages that held his lower have through the pain that stabbed up his arm. He had never seen such a person before, if he was a person at all

"Yuugi…" his captor whispered as he touched the pussy skin underneath the bandages. Pain flared quickly at his touch, green sparks attacking both Ritoceh and his captor.

"A-ah!" he yelled at the pain intensified. "Stop it!" The stranger only grunted in response, determination igniting in his red eyes. "S-stop! Make it stop!" Through squinted eyes, Ritoceh saw the golden lines from this morning shin through the pussy and wrinkled skin. No!

His captor, undaunted by his skin's horrid appearance, wrapped his own hand firmly around Yuugi's arm, just below the elbow. The pain climaxed.

Through the pain, he could feel the heat of the stranger's hand around his forearm, and he wanted to cringe as it inched slowly down his arm. Needles pulled ruthlessly underneath the palm, almost unbearable, and instantly following the needles was a blissful coolness. Ritoceh writhed in a mix of pain and relief, continuously tittering between one and extreme and the other as those golden lines lifted from his skin, repelling a sickeningly green vapor that wafted from his damaged skin.

"Ngh!" His captor's hand was down to his wrist now, and the golden light began to twist around his arm, spearing holes in the green vapor. It hurt, but not nearly as bad as a few seconds ago. Something pressed against his skull, akin to the feeling that preceded those strange visions, and sure enough, his vision went black instantly.

Carnage met his eyes. Dark, dank water tossed around the sounds of fighting. His heart bled inside of him. Someone was crying.

Suddenly, he was back in his captor's arms. Tears rolled down his face, their jell-like consistency holding up against the water surrounded it before dissolving as it reached his chin. His captor was holding on tightly to his hand, fingers interlaced, and had his face buried in Ritoceh's shoulder. A band of light wrapped around Ritoceh's wrist and, to his astonishment, an identical band glowed around his captor's wrist.

"Yuugi…"

Why did this feel so familiar, so comforting? Cloudy images pressed against his eyes, taunting him with their nearness. Foreign words were whispered into his ear, warming his aching heart and sending goose bumps along his skin. He felt like he knew this person, his captor. Did he know him? The other acted like he knew Ritoceh, and his lack of memory could hide the truth. But, wouldn't Dartz or Rebecca have told him if he knew someone else before?

He leaned into his captor, soothed by the warm fluttering in his chest. This person wouldn't ever lie to him, like Dartz and Rebecca obviously had. And he would never hurt him. How he knew this was lost to him. He had to have known this person. These feelings of security and familiarity couldn't be faked. He was sure of it.

Ritoceh was startled out of his pleasant thoughts when he felt the stranger begin to move. He squirmed in the stranger's embrace at the feeling of those black appendages releasing his tail. They executed a motion that Ritoceh couldn't see, but found utterly strange. The way Ritoceh saw his surroundings told him that they were moving. He looked up at the stranger who, in turn, smiled at him. Despite the fact that his mind was screaming at him, Ritoceh couldn't find it in him to be afraid. Wherever this strange person was taking him, he would be safe.

The stranger whispered that weird name into his ear and an echo formed in his mouth. The word meant nothing to his own ears, despite the warmth that wrapped around his heard, and the stranger nuzzled his neck in response.

"Ritoceh!"

The stranger froze instantly, and Ritoceh stirred in his grasp. That voice…sounded like Rebecca. What was Rebecca doing here? A sudden vibration rumbled through the stranger's throat, and Ritoceh looked up into his face. The stranger's red eyes were hard, holding nothing of their previous warmth, and angry.

"Ritoceh!" He tore his gaze away from those burning (what was burning?) eyes. He looked over his surroundings, searching for Rebecca. He found her, speeding towards him from the palace. Her face was pale and her expression was horrified.

"W-what?" Ritoceh murmured. What was she so afraid of?

The stranger snarled when she got too close, and she froze completely. Goose bumps speckled Ritoceh's skin at the sound. The stranger was glaring furiously at Rebecca, and then he spoke.

"What have you done?" he hissed, tightening his grip on Ritoceh. Nervousness fluttered in his stomach. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Rebecca seemed to have lost her voice, her pale face turning white. She didn't move, and if Ritoceh didn't know better, be would have thought she stopped breathing. Why was she so scared? He was a little nervous at the stranger's tone, but he didn't see the reason why Rebecca was so terrified. He eyes, Ritoceh noticed, were completely focused on the stranger's bracelet and the phantom one wrapped around his own wrist.

"Rebecca?" Ritoceh questioned, causing both Rebecca and the stranger to jump at his voice. "What-" he was cut off by Rebecca's sudden screech.

"Guards! Guards!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, her head twisting around in search for the armored Muer'in. Ritoceh flinched against the motionless stranger. In a sudden flurry of movement, the stranger took off, Ritoceh secure in his arms.

Ritoceh, once he was no longer in shock at the sudden movement, uselessly tried to move his tail in time with the stranger's weird way of moving. He would speed forward a few meters, then pause, then lung forward again. It was very unsettling on the stomach, and he gave up after a few seconds.

"Halt!"

Ritoceh squeaked at the sight of the guard who appeared in front of them. The stranger cursed, jerking to dash above the guard's head and swing a fist into the man's unprotected gills. Ritoceh starred, mortified and fascinated as the guard crumbled to the floor. Shakily, he lifted his only free hand to touch the gills around his neck. He had no idea that they could cause that much pain. The next second, they were speeding away from the fallen guard with Rebecca hot on their tail.

Rebecca was betting bolder, despite the power the stranger had just exhibited. The stranger did not seem threatened yet by her presence, more annoyed and frustrated than anything. He would duck when she dived at them, and swerve when she charged, but nothing violent. Why the stranger wasn't reacting aggressively towards Rebecca when he had taken out that guard, Ritoceh couldn't quite figure out.

"Ritoceh!" she yelled again, and he found some break in his strangely passive attitude to yell back at her.

"Leave me alone, Rebecca!"

The next instant, they disappeared into the thick coral that wreathed the city. Ritoceh squeaked at they spun around several large coral heads, nearly colliding with a few fire coral branches. He could see flashes of Rebecca's blond hair as she pursued him, slower now thanks to the presence of the coral. Little fish darted out of their way, and anemones retreated into their protective sheaths. Ritoceh pressed closely against the stranger, afraid that he would either get stung by a guinaw cluster or get his tail caught in the coral.

Suddenly, Ritoceh was propelled into a crevice. His front was instantly spooned against the stranger's back and pressed against the surface of the coral. A strange sensation crept over Ritoceh immediately after. He shivered; it felt like he had just been submerged in freezing cold water. Nervously, he squirmed. What was going on?

A gasp jumped from his throat as a ripple passed over the stranger's skin. He watched, entranced as the tan skin began to shift and change color. It went from tan, to a lighter yellow, then blue, and then began to blotch and change into an array of coral greens, reds, and blues. He reached out his hands, intending to see if the stranger was actually disappearing.

"What…the hell?"

Ritoceh stared at his hand in horror. The once pale skin was slowly changing, similar in the way that the stranger's was. He could still touch things and feel them like normal, but his body was disappearing into the coral like a phantom! The stranger grabbed his hand, and stroked gentle circles on the clammy skin. Ashamed, Ritoceh whimpered in uncertainty. He hated being this afraid, this unsure of himself. Why couldn't everyone just leave him alone?

Defeated, he rested his head against the stranger's shoulder blade, the foreign person being the only one he felt like he could trust at the moment. Rebecca didn't like him, Dartz gave him the creeps, and he didn't know anyone else. His memories were faulty and he kept being assaulted by visions. He honestly didn't know what was fact and what was fiction anymore.

And then, there was this stranger; someone whom Ritoceh had just meet not thirty minutes ago, yet he felt completely safe with. And despite his ease with the stranger, he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong. He had known this person before waking up in the palace, but for how long? And what was his life like before that encounter?

A sudden tensing in the stranger's body startled Ritoceh out from his thoughts. He quieted his breathing and searched around for the source of the other's sudden alertness. He caught sight of it, nearly ten feet away. It was Rebecca, swimming alone above the reef. For half-a-moment, Ritoceh worried about her safety, predators still roamed the reef despite its closeness to the city, and any of them would instantly take advantage of a lone Muer'in. However, a second later Ritoceh noticed the pair of guards trailing in her wake.

They would pass right over, Ritoceh realized. The guards were not looking anywhere near their position amongst the coral, and as long as Rebecca didn't look down, they would remain unnoticed. Although, it seemed that Rebecca was psychic, because she looked at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time.

"Ritoceh!"

The stranger cursed, and they were speeding along the coral again. The guards were instantly in pursuit with Rebecca tailing behind them. Black ink clouds exploded right behind them, just barely slowing the two guards down.

"Hurry!" Ritoceh urged, managing to get his tail to work in time with the strangers. The water rushed passed his face, grabbing at him as if it was trying to slow him down. He tripled his efforts, fearing the cold touch of a guard on his tail.

"Hurry! Hurry, hurry, hurry!" he pleaded. If only they could get past the coral, then maybe they could disappear amongst the endless expanse of whatever extended beyond the reef. He honestly had no idea what existed beyond the reef, he didn't even know how big the city was, but he figured whatever was out there was better than Dartz.

A hand suddenly closed around the base of his tail, and instantly his movement was reversed. He gave an 'umph' and a squeal, knowing exactly what had happened and dreading every second of it. The stranger gave an irate squawk and twisted his body to keep Ritoceh in his grasp. The miniscule loss of speed was enough for the other guard to catch up. Both armor-plated guards grappled for possession of Ritoceh, beating the stranger with tails and fists. Black tentacles grabbed at them, trying to reclaim Ritoceh and take out the two offenders.

"Ritoceh!" Feminine hands dragged him out of the tussle of limbs. Rebecca had a secure grip around his arms, and it took him a few precious seconds to work through the suddenness of it all. However, once he did figure out what was happening, he fought tooth and nail.

"Let me go, Rebecca!" He swung his tail, beating it against her to make her let go. She gasped in shock at his violence, but did not loosen her hold.

"Ritoceh! Stop it!" she struggled with him, barely able to pull him back a few inches. "I have to get you out of here!"

"No!" He had to get back to the stranger. He had to! If he didn't, then he would be stuck with the secrets and degradation that followed him throughout the palace! "Let me go! I have to go!" He stared desperately at the writhing mass of limbs and fins. The stranger seemed to be at a disadvantage as they pulled his up out of the reef, yet he fought with a violence that both scarred and reassure him. The stranger would not go down easily, so neither would he.

A sudden jab into Rebecca's ribs dislocated her grip, and he broke free of her. He dove instantly, aiming for the guard that was slowly choking the stranger. The element of surprise on his side, Ritoceh used his momentum and punched the guard's gills, and watched in fascination as he instantly crumpled in on himself. He clawed after the second guard, beating at him with his tail with no fear of retaliation; the stranger had him in a solid grip.

A change in water-pressure warned them mere seconds before the next group of guards showed up. The quartet converged upon them more efficiently than the last two, and Ritoceh was separated from the stranger again. This time, however, Ritoceh had no hope of escape.

He was dragged away, his arms bound securely to his sides. It was all he could do to watch as the stranger was overwhelmed by yet another quartet of guards. Brightly sashed Muer'in continued to fall by the stranger's hand, yet there were at least two to replace every fallen one. Ritoceh watched in horror as necks snapped and spines bent in unholy ways. Red eyes flashed predatorily as the Muer'in guards attacked, and a chill of fear settled in Ritoceh's belly. The shear power hidden beneath those muscled to be able to break a spine through all that armor was just…inhuman.

He had no time to either panic at the violence the gentle and reassuring stranger portrayed or the strange word that invaded his head, as he was carried a few feet away and restrained there. The stranger was greatly outnumbered, and was restrained by no less than four guards, with at least a dozen others surrounding him with spears ready.

A hush fell over the guards as the purple-and-orange-scaled Dartz swam into view. His ceremonial robe hung proudly on his shoulders and his sash fluttered in the current. If Ritoceh didn't know any better, he'd have though the man was a priest, some kind of healer hoping to tend to the wounded and dying soldiers on the coral below. However, one look into the mismatched eyes instantly banished any nice feelings for the man. The head Council member watched the struggle, uncaring as some of his soldiers writhed dying on the coral, some of the wounded landing on guinaw clusters. His focus was intended for the stranger, whom he watched with as much disgust as if he was the most unholy thing he had ever seen.

"I see we have caught a vermin." Dartz commented quietly. "I hope this was the only one?"

"Yes, sir!" A guard in decorated armor, obviously a lieutenant, declared. "Searches indicate that this is the only one, sir!"

"Good." Dartz drawled lazily. He drifted closer, sneering at the stranger. "And I suppose you are here for our precious little Fyl'ic?" Ritoceh flinched as those glacier eyes shifted to him. He tried to hide his bracelet-bound arm behind his back, failing as Dartz easily caught sight of it. "Ahh, and I see you've already helped yourself to him, honestly, do you have any manners at all?"

The stranger growled, lunging against his captors. "Why have you stolen him from me?"

"Stolen? My dear barbarian, Ritoceh has always lived among us. The only one stealing him was you."

"Bastard! We had bonded well before you ever knew he existed! You have violated the Iro'con Treaty! You cannot take him if he was already bonded!"

Dartz tilted his head to the side, silently analyzing the furious stranger, and signaled to one of the guards behind him. The guard spilt off of the main group and sped over to where Ritoceh was being held.

"N-no!" Ritoceh yelled as he was dragged up to where Dartz was. He struggled, flailing his tail and swinging his arms when he had the chance. "Let me go!"

"Ungrateful boy," the guard grumbled. "Can't you see that we are saving you from that monster?"

"Ritoceh," Dartz stared at him. "Do you know this creature?"

Ritoceh writhed as a sharp pain tore up his spine. His vision blurred and he ground his teeth together to keep the scream in. Stop it! he wanted to yell. His bracelet-bound arm pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

"Y-yes," he whispered. Yes, he knew this stranger. Where and why he knew him, Ritoceh had no clue, but he did know him. The pain intensified, and he thought he heard the stranger voice his agony.

"…" Dartz was silent for a few moments, watching avidly as Ritoceh writhed in pain. "It seems you've found a way in through the spell, barbarian." He lazily reached into the folds of his ceremonial robe and withdrew a small band inlaid with one large green stone and two smaller identical ones. "I can't have that, I'm so close." With a flick of his fins, he approached Ritoceh.

"Get away from me!" Ritoceh screamed, barely able to get a coherent thought through the pain. He beat his tail against his captor, unable to do much else. His bracelet-bound arm was yanked unceremoniously from beside his body and dragged out into the open, his little golden bracelet glowing defiantly amongst the green that crept upon it. Dartz, starting up a chant, clamped the green-stoned band directly over the golden bracelet, and held it there. Pain unlike any other he had ever experienced before, and he had experienced a lot lately, took over his whole body. His insides felt like they were burning holds in his skin and trying to climb up and out his throat. Stop! He screamed inside and out. Make it stop!

Atem!

Unconsciousness swallowed him up, and Ritoceh's pain-filled mind was tossed into an endless sea of needles and stones.

Dartz watched, a sadistic grin on his face as the small Fyl'ic twitched in the guard's arms. The young Fyl'ic's arm was convulsing as the C'intal magic combated the invasive qualities of the barbarian's poison. Soon, the acid would be purged from the Fyl'ic's body, and he would take his destined place as the Muer'in's seer. And Dartz would once again be the ruler of a prosperous people.

He took a moment to shift his attention to the C'intal and watch as the barbarian fought against his own captors. The creature may be strong, but even it would have trouble escaping two-dozen elite warriors. There would be use for this one; he needed to remind the public of the true face of danger to put them back in their place. There had been too many uprisings for Dartz's liking. He turned to the lieutenant and issued his orders.

"Throw the barbarian into the dungeon, make sure it has plenty of…accommodations, he'll be there for a while; and settle our little Fyl'ic into a secure room. He'll be disoriented when he wakes up, so I want someone there to fill him in on just how close he came to mortal peril." He paused to watch as the lieutenant dished out orders. "The Fyl'ic is to be guarded at all times, I don't want another mishap like this one, understood?" The lieutenant shivered, unable to hide his fear, and shouted out his 'sir, yes sir!.' Dartz grinned, glad that all was going according to plan.

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A.N.: Sorry about the long absence. I have not yet fallen off the face of the earth, but it was summer and I got distracted with other things, like swimming. I'm hoping to get started on the next chapter today, but you guys should know by now that my updating schedule fluctuates. Until next chapter! See ya!